The Portland daily press., 1887-03-11
ILLUSTRATED JOURNALISM GONE MAD.
Boston Post
POOR DEFENDERS,
NJ W Cun
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.
Parleyings with Certain People. By Rob-
ert Browning. The people with whom the
parleyings are held are Vaudeville, Bartoli,
Christopher Smart, Bubb Dodington, Furini.
DeLairesse and Avison. Most of these names
are remote and obscure, bu. were selected by
Browning to illustrate his thesis which, as
usual with this poet, is itself reconcile and
elusive.
The reader has two problems to solve.
First, the author meaning; second, its cor
rectness or falsity. Doubtless, one purpose
runs through tie poem in all its parts. What
that is cannot easily be made out Appar-
emily, however, it is something like this. Ex-
tremes meet Life is highly complex and
abounds in surprises, sudden and unexpect
ed turns. Its vicissitudes are many and
great For instance, genius commands our
homage, but it often lies perilously near to
| folly and madness. Human conduct is strange
and battling. 1t is often heard to say wheth-
| er given decision or act is wise, or unwise.
Things are very much mixed, wisdom and
folly, truth and error, goodness and vice.
Character is a compound so curiously blend
ed, that it is difficult to decide where the line
should be drawn, or when that is passed
which separates evil from good,
The names selected serve to illustrate the
| poets positions. The contention is that
some nice adjustment of mental qualities en-
abled Christopher Smart to write one fine
| poem, David" though he did nothing else
| save to make poor translation of Horace.
Dodington was demagogue, but how differ
entiated from the successful leaders of men.
A lady declines the hand of a noble lord
because she thinks he will prove recreant to
some ideal fealty to his family if he marres
her. Both were unhappy Were they wise?
Then there is the old controversy touching
the evolution of the spiritual through bodily
forms in art. Did not the artist Priest who
condemned himself for drawing and glorify-
ing the human figure, writo hinAoolf down az
carnai, soofns esstJ--rf o5fss where tl,o0or.i
| should have shown forth?
Finally, what shall be said of music? That
it varies with times and seasons, each age
and cause requiring new style suited to it?
Is it not rather true, that at the bottom, all
music is the same, and that the same strains
would serve equally for the earlier or later
hero, for Cromwell, Wellington or Washing
ton?
| Browning is the most intellectual of mod
ern English poets. He always give us some
| thing to think about, and usually requires of
| his readers the closest attention. Even when
this is given, there are many things in him
hard to be understood, as in St. Pauls writ
ings. frequently the unlearned and unsta-
Die may wrest his writings frum their true
meaning, and by perverting the sense, draw
lnferences which the writer never intended.
Nevertheless, according to the proyerb,
wisdom is justified of her children"
New York; Houghton Miffiin& Co.; Port
land: Loring, Short g. Harmony
History of Medieval Art. By DIR. Franz
Won Reber, translated by Joseph Thatcher
Clarke. The student of ancient art will find
this most valuable book, from which he
can draw clear and readable account of the
| growth and results of the various schools of
! art in Europe, Western Asia and Egypt. The
author begins by delineating the marked
characteristics of art in these various locali-
| ties, where each has from its origin to its de-
cline preserved striking individuality in
its subjects, types and treatment. He marks
with care the development of each school and
the points where one apparently fixed stage
seems to overlap new departure until the
later type becomes the ruling mode. The
first chapter is full of interest to the Chris
tian of today, as it reveals the trials of the
early Christians in their efforts to preserve
from pollution the abodes of their martyrs
and sainted dead in the catacombs about
Rome. We have never read more vivid de-
scription of the Catacombs of st Calixters, or
a more reasonable explanation of their con-
struction and adaptation to the purposes of
worship and interment to which they were
doubtless devoted. He then advances to show
the outgrowth of the Christian Basilica from
the Basilica of the Romans; from this
point he discusses Byzantian and ear
ly Christian Art, which originated
at the time that Roman Art had
reached its highest development, but
necessarily started many degrees below the
perfection OF the Roman masters as the first
converts to Christianity were called from the
humber walks of life in the worlds me-
tropolis, with whom money was scarce, and
II few could command the means to graft
fly their tastes, they were intimidated lest
their prosecutors should be attracted by
costly funeral piles, and vent upon their re-
vered dead their brutal vengeance. In the
remaining half of the book the author pre-
sents minute history of art in Germany,
France, Egypt and other countries. showing
the comparative merits and progress between
the earlier and more recent times. The book
is edited and illustrated with simple and
artistic taste. New York: Harper g. Broth
ers; Portland Loring, Short g. Harmony
The task which the author has proposed
for himself is difficult one both on account
of the character of his subject and the ex-
tent of materials with which he deals. In
dealing with principles there is danger in
treating them in too large way, whereby
limitations are ignored; while on the other
hand too much detail would cucumber the
subject and render the treatment unpopular. |
For the success which the author has at |
tanned in avoiding both of these difficulties |
he is entitled to good deal Of credit He |
has written useful and readable book, ac- |
curate in its scholarship, practical in its |
treatment of the subject and while free |
from unnecessary techncalties, not too |
vague or sketehy in its statements TO be |
worthless as presentation of the law. 1t /
Is Just such a book as has long been needed |
10 put into the hands of persons who want TO |
know something Of the practical aspects of |
law as applied to matters of every day con-
Germ. The author is not only clear headed
lawyer, but writer of more than ordinary
literary skill, ability and research His
chapters on Marriage, Divorce. Husband
and Wife, Parent and Child, Guardian and
ahnr al n y